Case Study Web Page Design w/ Steph O’Keefe
I love writing case studies, but when it comes to web page design—I call in backup!
I absolutely love a beautifully designed web page, but that’s not the part of the case study creation process that lights me up. (Trust me! Early on I agreed to design a few of these case study pages, but it was frustrating & less amazing than something a web designer would’ve made.) So… what happens once the case study is written? Who can you call for help? What do you need to know?
Lucky for us, Steph O’Keefe is here for this episode! She created my favorite case study web page to-date (one for my podcast producer, client, & friend Leah Bryant & her client Darrell Evans). Steph runs an agency in North Carolina which has a 3-pronged approach—SEO, copywriting, & web page design for WordPress websites.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
What is a case study
Comparing case study & sales page design
Best practices for working with a web designer
If case studies should be web pages or blog posts
Design elements that all case studies need
SEO pieces all case studies should have
The process of writing & designing a case study
How long it takes to design a case study web page
The final & most critical step you absolutely cannot forget to do!
Don’t forget you can submit a question that will get answered in an upcoming podcast!
Meet: Stephanie O’Keefe
Stephanie O’Keefe is a web designer and SEO strategist and she’s the owner of Southern Creative. Southern Creative is a digital marketing company dedicated to helping service-based brands gain more visibility online through strategic WordPress Websites and SEO.
Mentioned Resources:
Leah’s Case Study Page **designed by Steph
How to Blog w/ SEO (email course)
Related Episodes:
Tips for Great Case Study Interviews
Brand Voice w/ Justin Blackman
Connect w/ Steph:
Connect w/ Brittany:
This episode of The Basic B podcast is brought to you in partnership w/ Leah Bryant Co.! Help me reach more service providers like you by following the show & leaving a rating or review on Apple & Spotify!
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of The Basic B podcast follows
Welcome back to the Basic Bee Podcast. I am so excited to have you here. And I really just want you to know I'm so grateful that you are here, whether you're tuning in on YouTube or listening to any of the podcast players, it means a lot. And you're in for a treat today. Of course, I think I say that every single time I record with a guest, but we are going to be talking with Stephanie. We, I am gonna be talking with Stephanie O'Keefe and we're gonna be talking about writing and designing case study webpages. I am so stoked about this topic because.
Stephanie and I actually collaborated on a real live case study page. So we're going to talk through that. And then of course, I've got questions. So quick intro before I bring Stephanie on. Steph is a web page designer. Well, hold on. Well, yeah, I'm going to restart that. Steph is a web designer and SEO strategist, and she's the owner of Southern Creative.
Southern Creative is a digital marketing company dedicated to helping service-based brands gain more visibility online through strategic WordPress websites and SEO. And fun fact is that Steph and I were actually in Raleigh at the same time, but we didn't know until I moved out of the state. So now we get to spend lots of time on Zoom. Hi Steph!
Steph (01:13.91)
Hi, Brittany. Thank you so much for having me today.
Brittany Herzberg (01:16.638)
Oh my gosh, thanks for joining me. I have been eagerly awaiting chatting about this topic. I know I'm like frequently messaging you like, can we talk about this? You want to come over here and talk about that? So thanks for joining me.
Steph (01:27.99)
Yes, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to dive into this and hang out with all of your people today. Thank you. You're welcome.
Brittany Herzberg (01:34.846)
Yeah, of course. All right. So I'm going to hit you with a heavy hitting question before we dive into like the fun topic. And remember, you cannot screw this up. Like you will not mess up the answer here. So the question is, which do you believe is the most important for sales? SEO, storytelling, or social proof?
Steph (01:53.858)
Oh my goodness, that is a tough question. Um, the most important for sales. Can I say all of the above? Like all of the above, uh, all of them come so much hand in hand with building that know, like, and trust that's so important for brands, especially brands living online in the virtual space that don't have like a, a place for you to walk into.
Brittany Herzberg (01:57.314)
Hehehe
Brittany Herzberg (02:02.667)
Yes.
Steph (02:20.938)
And even if you do have a place that someone can walk into like that digital storefronts, typically that first stop in the process and having all of those aspects brought in is huge. So D all of the above.
Brittany Herzberg (02:36.467)
I love it. I love it. And this is I think I've said this before on the podcast, but the fact that all three combine perfectly so beautifully, it happens in case studies so seamlessly, especially the way that I write them and the way that I know you believe in them as well. And that's one thing that I thought was really cool when I was introduced to you is that we have this really symbiotic, you know, similar, if not overlapping belief that SEO and
Copywriting, like they need to, it's a need to have, it's not like a nice to have anymore.
Steph (03:07.99)
Yes, yeah, you need it all to be working together so that it's working for you. And yeah, and having that social proof and that connection is so important to be brought into that strategic level and it's just like next level. It's amazing.
Brittany Herzberg (03:24.722)
Yeah, exactly. I'm curious, I don't think I've ever asked you this before, but before you and I collaborated, and I'll share the story in a second, but before you and I collaborated on Leah's case study, had you ever designed another case study webpage?
Steph (03:37.746)
I had not, not to the extent how Leah's page is built out with how in depth and how much of the social proof and just how well-written it is. Most of the time it's been more in the format of like a blog post and kind of more on that side and then bringing in just more of the testimonial smaller sections within a full web design. I'm gonna go back a little bit.
Pause.
Brittany Herzberg (04:07.73)
Leah, that's your cue.
Steph (04:12.195)
Can we re-ask that question, Brittany? Like, we don't even remember where I was taking that.
Brittany Herzberg (04:14.323)
Yeah! What did I even say?
Brittany Herzberg (04:19.374)
Oh, I, okay, I know where it was. Okay, Leo, we're here.
Steph (04:21.551)
Okay, sorry.
Brittany Herzberg (04:26.03)
I don't think I've ever asked you this before. Before doing the case study collaboration that you and I did for Leah, had you ever designed any other case study web pages?
Steph (04:35.842)
Yeah, that's a great question. No, I have not. Previously, the most in-depth had been more in the blog style of a case study, kind of highlighting the projects or success that client had helped somebody else to get, but never on a full page that was built out as in-depth and well-written as the one that we did for Leah.
Brittany Herzberg (04:59.33)
Translation as long as one that I wrote. And that is something that I hear a lot is people are, they're surprised that they're so long, but it is kind of, well here's something that I often say to clients and I wonder if you feel the same way. Do you feel like they're kind of similar case study pages to sales pages?
Steph (05:02.379)
Thank you.
Steph (05:18.206)
Yes, yeah, I absolutely do. Especially the formula and the flow that you take your clients through with really pulling out the story and the success and helping to walk through what that looked like, 100% where it's a similar design process from my side of helping to visually tell and flow through the words in the same way that we would do on the sales page design.
Brittany Herzberg (05:25.687)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (05:46.014)
Oh, that's so good to hear because like I said, I definitely talk about that and we are going to get into your part of the process. We're going to break down like the writing of the case study and the case study design process. So, all right, before I keep throwing questions at you, you and I met by way of Leah Bryant who produces this podcast. Shout out to Leah for making us sound good all the time. Thank you, friend. But we met through Leah and I can't remember exactly what we did.
when we met or how we met, but I think I was probably looking for someone to connect somebody else with for web page design. Usually that's what happens and then I meet all these incredible designers and pull them in for other projects, which is great. But you ended up taking the case study copywriting that I wrote for Leah about her client, Daryl, and you turned it into this gorgeous page. And I was telling you before we hit record, I think every single person who's come in the door since then, whenever someone is like,
do you have any examples? I'm always like, Leah's like, look at Leah's and Daryl, like Steph did an incredible job. And then there's one other one that I will reference as well. But like it's, this is one of my favorites that I've ever seen designed. And I'm just like so grateful that we were able to collaborate on that because I met you. I like instantly, you know, we were like friends and I never wanted you to go away. But then I was like so stoked to be able to collaborate on this. And I guess like, was there anything, if you even remember it at this point?
Was there anything that stood out about having that Google Doc and being able to take it into the design process that was good? Or I'll just ask back for now and then I'll ask my follow up later on.
Steph (07:21.606)
First of all, thank you for your kind words. That means the absolute world to me. I'm so glad that you've been able to use this example in all of your other, for your clients to see the power of a case. And I think it's a wonderful example. Leah did a standout job with bringing all of Daryl's testimonials to life. And I just love how it's all kind of working together. But yeah, no, thank you so much. To answer your question,
Brittany Herzberg (07:23.822)
Hehehe
Brittany Herzberg (07:45.107)
Yeah.
Steph (07:50.386)
I think how just you laid out the Google Doc in a way that made it seamless. Like you can tell, even though you weren't designing it on like the aesthetic side, you were designing the flow and the flow of a website page is so important. And the flow of how it was written was so well thought out. And that was very evident. And I know I keep like doing this with my hand. I'm doing the flow. Um,
Brittany Herzberg (08:15.861)
I do the same.
Steph (08:19.638)
But that's so important and half the battle with pulling copy and content into a web design page is making sure that we're helping to take the customer through a journey that you took them through the journey, through the words. And then I was able to merge bringing them through the journey of the visual and it just pulled together very strategically. And so, yeah, you did a very great job at like pulling it out and even
To a non-designer, I feel like how you had it pulled out in the Google Doc can help someone kind of see how they could potentially have the sections laid out on their page. Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (09:01.174)
That's awesome. I really like hearing that because that is definitely a goal of mine where I'm like, please, if I can just organize things and have it be really easy and seamless to understand, to follow, not only just from the word and the story perspective, but also from the actual organization of the document. I'm really happy to hear that was helpful, so thank you. Yes! I feel like I'm doing something right, which is always very nice. So with
Steph (09:10.011)
Yeah.
Steph (09:19.182)
Thank you.
Yes, yes, no, I was just...
Brittany Herzberg (09:29.73)
Have you ever written you haven't designed any other case study pages really have you ever written any because I know in house we should clarify you at Southern creative you do SEO and strategy and copywriting and design and all of that right.
Steph (09:42.794)
Yes, yeah, we do. But no, we don't specialize in writing case studies. We have helped with more of that blog style. We do offer ongoing and blogging support. And so pulling in some of the experiences of clients and their projects, but never a full-blown case study page. Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (09:52.073)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (10:09.018)
I like hearing that you do bring that in with blogs especially too. I guess I'll go ahead and ask this to you now because I do get this question a lot from it might be in a DM, it might be through a client or a student going through my program where people are like, okay, do I need to have a case study as a blog or do I need to have it as its standalone webpage? And I want to hear your thoughts because my thoughts may overlap and they may be different.
Steph (10:35.978)
Yeah, I think it's a really a good question. I don't know if there's a 100% like the right answer. Like if you do it this way, it's the right way or this way it's the wrong way. There's not a black and white. I would typically how I would recommend it depending on where the brand and the company currently is and like the resources that you have and the time to allocate to designing out a full page.
Brittany Herzberg (10:46.702)
Hehehe
Steph (11:02.662)
starting in a blog post is going to be the quickest way to kind of get it out there and working for them. And then you can always convert that blog post over to its own case study page and even kind of keep that blog post, maybe summarize more and then lead people to, from that blog post to the full case study page once that is up on your website and kind of help them kind of.
Brittany Herzberg (11:10.305)
Mm-hmm.
Steph (11:30.81)
move through that journey from a blog post to that page and then of course ultimately to reaching out to potentially work with you if that's your final year hoping clients kind of move towards. But obviously online is the best way for people to learn about it and so just kind of getting it out there whichever way you want. Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (11:40.632)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (11:48.289)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (11:53.65)
Yeah, for sure. That's how I feel. I'm like, whatever is going to actually get you to share the case study on your website, which is a key point that you brought out because, yes, I talk about repurposing case studies in email sequences or launch sequences or over on social media for sure, but I want you to be driving that traffic back to your website because that's where the SEO juice is really going to matter. That's where you rack up the points.
Steph (12:18.913)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (12:20.966)
I like hearing that. Cool. So the answer kind of is do whatever is going to be easiest for you to get it out there, whether that looks like a blog, whether that looks like creating... I've had one client talk about creating almost like a secondary blog section where it was just dedicated to case studies.
Steph (12:36.942)
Yeah, and that's a great way to do it too, depending on what platform you have your website on. There are different ways where you could have a different template that's pulling from like your blog post section of your website that's designed with case studies in mind and has a very specific different look than maybe what your typical blog post page would look like. And that's a great way to do it as well.
Brittany Herzberg (12:41.267)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (13:04.114)
Yeah, that's a great point. So you have options. I love that. I love that whenever there's options. When you think of a case study, now that you've at least seen Leah and Daryl's, do you feel like there are certain things that all case study pages need from and that could be from a design perspective only? Or I know you've got all three, the SEO, the design, and the copy. So
Steph (13:07.498)
I'm not.
Steph (13:28.43)
Yeah, I think from a design perspective, a must have is the person's face, I would say. Like, there's unfortunately, in the time that we live, it's amazing with all the technology and all other resources, but at the same time, there's websites that just don't feel authentic sometimes. And bringing in a real person that people can connect with.
helps to build that authenticity, it builds that trust and that alignment. So having a picture or like a video of somebody talking through their experience working is huge. Having those layers into the design I would say is a huge like must have.
Brittany Herzberg (14:15.318)
sure I could not agree more and I usually harp on that especially with like about pages I'm like please just have your face on there and I really harped on that even as a massage therapist when I was just a massage therapist I was like I want someone to know that it's me when they're coming in the door for the first time and be like oh you like you're the person I'm going to be going to say okay cool and it's not I always like to make the point that it's not about like judging anybody or putting it out there for any other reason other than just to make someone feel more comfortable
Steph (14:16.494)
Thanks for watching.
Steph (14:45.602)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (14:45.915)
So, I mean, that's what you're doing. You're really just, it's a connection point. Yeah.
Steph (14:48.418)
Yeah. Yes. It's a connection point, a place where they're not obviously seeing that person face to face, but they can start to build that trust and know that, okay, this, Darryl, for going back to Leah's page, Darryl had a fabulous experience. I am in a similar place to where he started. I want to reach out to Leah's team. And so having that connection with.
Brittany Herzberg (15:04.514)
Yeah.
Steph (15:15.902)
your case study client like that's a huge a huge layer to it. Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (15:20.118)
For sure. Okay, so that's a great tip from the design perspective. Is there anything from the SEO perspective that you feel like is really important in a case study?
Steph (15:29.262)
Yeah, so I haven't written, I'll be completely honest with, I haven't written enough case study content. I don't do all my, all my fabulous things. I'm not the writer behind the scenes. I do the SEO research side of things and then my amazing copywriters take it and
Steph (15:49.746)
wonderful words that I can bring into the design. So from the SEO side, obviously kind of going into the keyword research and what is a service and a transformation, that's another must have. But as far as writing it, I would differ to you. Like what would you say are some must haves from that side?
Brittany Herzberg (16:11.25)
Yeah, I mean, kind of just like piggybacking on the keyword research, one point of clarification that comes up a fair amount, I would say, with my clients is, you know, they want to use their membership name or they want to use their program name. And I have to gently break their heart and say, not everyone's going to be looking for that, but they are going to be looking for a solution to their problem. So it's the problem that they're having, or they're going to be looking so that they can achieve a certain result. What are the results that your people are getting?
And especially when you have that one person that's being featured in the case study, it's like, what was their problem? Or what were their top three problems? What was their result or the top three results? And then from there, you can do keyword research based on that. So sadly, if you're listening, people are likely, unless you're like Amy Porterfield, people are likely not Googling like your program name, but they are definitely looking for whatever stuck point, like whatever brick wall they're running up against or whatever that desire is that they have.
Steph (16:43.778)
Yeah.
Steph (17:10.71)
Yes, so true. The question, the answer in those questions in the form of content is huge.
Brittany Herzberg (17:11.838)
Yeah. Exactly.
It is and I mean case studies, whether you have it as a blog page or a standalone web page, it is content and you are putting that out there and there is a longevity to it just like with blogs. So, okay, so let's talk through the process. So I'll kind of share what it's like from the case study copywriting perspective, like that part of the process and then I'll hand it over to you and we can talk through the design part. So this is essentially.
what Leah experienced and she will be coming on the podcast soon. So I'll be like, can you just verify this is accurate? Do you feel like we did a good job? So at least in my world, case studies are based on SEO story. And of course, they are their own piece of social proof, but they also pull in testimonials, which are additional pieces of social proof. So my flow when I am writing a case study is that it starts with an interview.
That could be an interview that my client has done. Maybe it's a podcast interview, a YouTube video that's live, or a Facebook live, or a hidden video interview that was done over Zoom that now lives in their Google Drive. So it always starts with an interview. Second option for an interview is that I actually really love interviewing. Don't know if anyone's noticed that. You know, me over here with my podcast.
But I love interviewing, so that is also a service that I offer to my clients if they're like, I don't have time or I don't want to, or it would just be better if you could do it. So it starts with an interview. I watch and or listen to it and create a story arc and I'm pulling quotes as I'm listening to that interview. Create the story arc. I give that to my clients so they can approve it because I got myself into trouble one time when I didn't do that and I've never not done that since then. Oh yeah, it was like comical, but it was a good lesson.
Steph (19:04.722)
lessons are learned the hardest way sometimes.
Brittany Herzberg (19:07.922)
Now I can laugh at it. At the time I was like, uh-oh. And then as my client is looking at the story arc and approving it, I'm doing the keyword research and creating the SEO strategy for the case study. I get the approval on the story arc and then I write. It goes to my copy editor, aka my boyfriend, who has this... Thankfully, he has this editing skill set, so I put it to use pretty frequently, which I really appreciate because it helps just have another set of eyes to look over that.
I send it off to my client. If there are any modifications to be made, I go ahead and do that. And then it's done. The project is done. My client gets the Google Doc. They actually get three Google Docs. So they get the case study copywriting. They get, which is what you definitely saw, which had all the words and it had like the H1, H2, places for buttons, things like that. And then they get the SEO strategy sheet, which is separate. And I walk them through how to use that. There's a video.
And then they get a marketing map. So that has all of those pulled quotes. It has three specific quotes and a few specific ways that they can use things. And I like to lean into either their astrology or their human design to make it really like personalized so they can feel like, oh, this is how I can use this case study in my world. So at that point, I don't know what happens to it. Usually I do check in with my clients. I have heard like, I kind of have a 50-50.
split right now for who has actually put the case study live on their website and who hasn't. I've had one client who she hasn't done a website redesign just yet. So she has, I think she has three case studies right now that are just living in like pretty Google Docs. So that's like as far as I've gone in designing these things. So they look presentable. But at that point, like it goes off to someone like Steph and then what happens?
Steph (21:01.466)
Yeah, that's such a good question. I know I can speak to like our process. I'm sure it looks different depending on the team and who's kind of working through it, but I can speak for like what our process looks like. And honestly, it's a very similar process. And maybe that's why we like jive so well for me, because it's a similar process. So we get the wonderful words. So depending on if our team is writing or we're
bring in the copywriting in from another fabulous copywriter like yourself, get the words, and then typically we have to kind of reverse if we didn't write the words. We usually have to pause and go back to the SEO research phase because most commonly that's not brought in until after. We actually see it brought in usually after the design.
Brittany Herzberg (21:51.842)
Yeah.
Steph (21:55.582)
which is not a process that we recommend. We always recommend doing that before the words are written, similar like what you do, Brittany. And so having it all brought over, ready to go, like Leah's was, was fabulous. So like having all of the words ready to go. And so from there, we just, we designed. So for a sales page, for a case study page, we start in a design platform outside of the...
Brittany Herzberg (22:01.89)
Yes.
Steph (22:24.162)
website builder so that we can make sure that we are bringing all of the words in. I bring them all over. I make the beautiful Google Doc that you have created. And I just like throw all of the words onto a blank long page. So it looks like a Google Doc inside of my design platform. And then it just gets, it's like one of those moments like where you're cleaning your closet or a cabinet and you just like get everything out.
and you have all of your shoes open, you have your clothes on the ground, and it's a mess. So that's like what it looks like on my design side. It's a mess until it comes together. And so I test out a few different kind of flows in the design. Sometimes if we get stuck on a certain section, which happens with like how it's flowing, I will just like leave it in the main how it is like just written in like text.
And then I'll leave it there and kind of get into the design flow lower on the page. Um, it just kind of depends on where the process is, how it's all kind of pulling together with the images brought in from like the client. Um, so it gets messy in the design phase and then we all, um, get it buttoned up. And I have a similar feedback process. I send it to my clients, the initial kind of direction, similar to you. I had.
Brittany Herzberg (23:31.042)
Mm-hmm.
Hehehe
Steph (23:44.366)
situation where I got too deep in the design process and it was not in the direction which happens of the vision and you know starting a full page over is very different from starting the half of the page over so we do kind of a section that gets the all encompassing visual direction of that page done sent out over for feedback.
make any changes to the direction and then we build out the rest of the page and the design. And then from there, we make sure all of the photos are optimized for SEO, all of the keywords and all of that are kind of put in the image title. And then I bring it over, I'm a WordPress designer and developer. So we bring it over into WordPress from there and build it out and develop it and put the file in, you know, button up SEO on the backend of it.
It's ready for launch, kind of in a nutshell.
Brittany Herzberg (24:42.176)
I love that. What, how, is there like a time frame that it typically falls into to design whether it's like a sales page or a case study page or anything like that?
Steph (24:51.574)
Yeah, so it just kind of depends. It's usually within like our one day design intensive, especially if it's a client who we have worked with in the past where we kind of already know the visual direction. If it's somebody who is needing support on like the visual direction side, that timeline may be longer, depending on what that looks like and what their foundation of the website looks like as well. So there's definitely a lot of layers that come into it.
Brittany Herzberg (25:04.556)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (25:17.261)
Yeah.
For sure. That makes total sense. Okay, so this was like the part two of what I wanted to ask a while ago, which is, in general, just like with any kind of copywriter coming to you with case study copy. Of course, you know the experience of working with me and you did make note of like the SEO being a helpful thing to actually be given. But is there anything else that copywriters could be doing to make a web designer's job easier?
Steph (25:21.901)
Yeah.
Steph (25:33.742)
Thanks for watching!
Steph (25:42.782)
Yeah, you know, I think having it well written out and kind of as the copywriters are writing, there's obviously there's purpose to what you're writing and having those sections denoted of like I kind of see this as like a headline or like that this could be a great H2, this could be a great body, this is the testament, kind of having those kind of thoughts.
Brittany Herzberg (25:59.585)
Mm-hmm.
Steph (26:07.47)
on the page or like as comments is great. So like as we're bringing it into the design and development, we can kind of get a little bit more in your head as far as like how it's written strategically to make sure that we're able to bring it in a way that visually pulls that same flow out.
So that's helpful. And then I of course loved the SEO. I think you even give your clients like what to name the images with the image itself, which is not something that I see often. So that's awesome that you go through that process as well. Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (26:35.611)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (26:39.367)
Oh cool.
Oh, that's
Steph (26:51.806)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (27:12.458)
and then it helps you as a designer. I'm really, I didn't realize that not a lot of people like give the image titles.
Steph (27:20.106)
No, yeah, I do not. It's a step that's often missed in the process, which is why we focus heavily on that initial piece as well. Because through working with startup companies who don't have a website presence to like, multi-figure entrepreneurs who have a large presence online, that was one thing that was consistently missed in all of the projects that I had noticed is that.
Brittany Herzberg (27:24.214)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (27:44.993)
Mm hmm.
Steph (27:49.03)
strategy behind the SEO and the intentional steps that you need to take before it goes online and onto the website platform. So yeah, it's awesome that you do that.
Brittany Herzberg (28:01.054)
I like knowing that. But also anyone else listening who's a copywriter, nudge hint hint. That is really cool. And if you need a checklist or some kind of document to help you figure out what those pieces are.
Stephanie, we could talk through like if there's anything else I need to add to it. But I have the SEO basics checklist and that is what I then call for my clients the SEO strategy sheet. It's the same thing. It's got all the pieces, the target keywords, supportive keywords, image titles. There is a spot for alt text. I give an example of that. But of course, at that point, I don't typically know which images are going to be pulled in because that's more of like that's more of your territory and I don't want to...
step on toes there, but I do want to give some options whether my client is going to take the copy and design the page.
or bring on a web designer like stuff. So I will make sure that checklist is linked below. And you could take that and use it for your own projects to figure out what SEO pieces need to go in there. That is really good to know though. I really, and I, every time I work with a client, especially if I know they are gonna go hire a web designer, maybe they already have someone or maybe they're looking for someone, I do make a point of like, if anybody wants to talk to me, like I'm available. I tried to make this like easy to understand, but also like come find me.
Do you ever find that you do end up being connected with copywriters to better understand their pages that they sent over?
Steph (29:26.246)
You know, yeah, yes and no. So like, usually through the, um, just like through Google docs, um, usually I have to kind of take it any further from that at that point of I love, of course, like that sounded kind of, I don't know, we can delete that section maybe.
Brittany Herzberg (29:33.045)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (29:45.066)
Leah, you've been finned again.
Steph (29:48.488)
Yellow flag on the field.
Brittany Herzberg (29:53.59)
That's funny.
Steph (29:56.238)
Okay, yes, I will restart that answer, Brittany. You asked me, do I ever stay connected with copywriters? Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (30:07.666)
Yeah, do you want me to ask it again? Okay, we over here. When you're working with anyone on a project, working with a client on a project, like a sales page or a case study page, do you ever find that you do end up talking with a copywriter to better understand what they had on the Google Doc, like what they intended?
Steph (30:28.338)
Yes, yes and no. So I definitely think the power of Google Docs are amazing to be able to like, be all collaborating on one document in all different places is fabulous to be able to ask any of those clarification questions. I have jumped on like a voxer kind of chat through before which is helpful just to kind of chat through.
direction or any questions or clarifying. So that is also an awesome.
Brittany Herzberg (30:54.759)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (31:00.778)
You're fine.
Brittany Herzberg (31:06.138)
It's Friday. You're fine. Leah like cleans off the craziest stuff so this isn't even the worst she's seen.
Steph (31:07.518)
I'm sorry, yeah, it's Friday. It's Friday. Hahaha.
Steph (31:15.162)
Oh my goodness, I can only imagine the end.
Brittany Herzberg (31:17.246)
Oh yeah, no, it's gonna, we're gonna sound so professional. So sometimes, is it fair to say you have talked with copywriters, but for the most part, you don't have to because things are, it's like clear enough.
Steph (31:33.502)
Yeah, so I guess I think maybe where I'm having a hard time answering the question, oh, a lot of our copy, a lot of our projects recently have been in-house copy. And so we're just constantly chatting and kind of going brainstorming and like sending messages back and forth on those particular clients. So I kind of already have a pretty good bead of.
Brittany Herzberg (31:43.397)
Ah.
Steph (31:56.29)
the initial direction, because we have a strategy called the SEO, like, research phase before it goes over to copy. And so by that point, we kind of already have like a neutral rising tide of the direction of the copy and the design. So in that aspect, it's pretty seamless. But yes, definitely if the copywriter is out of
Brittany Herzberg (32:02.039)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (32:10.583)
Hehehe
Steph (32:24.062)
Southern creative, definitely like having those conversations can help to build an idea. There's so many different personas and personalities behind copy through. So to understand the client's persona and their brand voice and then getting an idea of how that brand voice can be represented visually is also huge. And so all of that kind of comes back to how it was written, what the intention behind it was. So yeah, definitely collaborating is helpful.
Brittany Herzberg (32:32.418)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (32:41.795)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (32:51.67)
Yeah, I didn't even think about the fact that of course you've got copywriters in house so you would know. You would have a good pulse on your copywriters and what their thoughts are and how they're forming out the Google Docs and everything. Is there anything else that you want to point out or call attention to before we wrap up about case study copywriting or SEO or web page design in general?
Steph (32:55.694)
I'm going to go to bed.
Steph (33:01.147)
Yeah.
Steph (33:15.862)
I mean, there's so many things there. I think we could chat like literally all day about all of it. I think just to know that it's all a work in progress, like getting it out there and working for you is so crucial. Getting it online in a blog format, but then bringing it in, like the design layers is.
is super crucial. And then also one like major thing is making sure you submit that page to Google to be indexed so that it can start being read and filed in that digital filing account. That is huge. Like that's like that last step that I feel like a lot of people don't do is just making sure Google knows it's there.
Brittany Herzberg (34:00.254)
I know because you point out, or not you point out, someone will write something and they'll publish it. Like, let's just say it's a vlog for the sake of simplicity since it is Friday and the two of us are like losing it over here. But you publish a vlog. I used to think up until really last year that was it and it was fine and it was on the internet and turns out no, there's a final step. And I can't remember.
Steph (34:10.548)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (34:22.854)
if this interview is going to go live before or after, but I do have a recording about that walking you through, so I'll make sure that that's linked below for anyone listening so you have that tutorial to go listen to. But it is, it is a critical last step. It's something I call out in the, I have a How to Blog with SEO email course and I make sure that that's part of the, you know, the steps in the process, but you don't know what you don't know.
Steph (34:44.61)
Yeah.
Steph (34:48.374)
No, it's so crucial. And it's usually like people will have this amazing content and you pull up their site index and they have like two pages index. You have a hundred pages on their website. And it's like that disconnects. So yeah, definitely a crucial step that is overlooked often.
Brittany Herzberg (34:57.078)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (35:04.97)
Yeah, for sure. Okay, let's say anyone listening wants to connect with you. Where can they go do that?
Steph (35:10.698)
Yeah. Oh my goodness. Um, so I'm over on Instagram at Southern Creative Co. Or over at our website, sout If you're looking for like any web design tips, SEO tips, resources, WordPress, kind of best practices. We have all of that over on our blog, as well as a few resources that you can grab as well.
Brittany Herzberg (35:30.63)
Yeah, for sure. And I know you mentioned your it's a DIY like SEO audit, right?
Steph (35:36.126)
Yeah, I have a DIY SEO audit kind of like on sounds very similar maybe to your checklist, like a one page on page kind of checklist to help with the kind of on page design and making sure that as you're designing the website page, you're still doing these SEO kind of best practices throughout the process. Um, so yeah, that's another one of my, my services and resources out there as well.
Brittany Herzberg (35:49.193)
Mm-hmm.
Brittany Herzberg (36:01.426)
Yeah, I'll make sure that's linked below because that sounded like a really good companion for everything we were talking about today. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for joining me. This was really fun. It was a blast and I've been looking forward to having this conversation.
Steph (36:05.694)
No.
Steph (36:10.503)
I think you saw it.
Steph (36:14.514)
Yes, oh my goodness, thank you so much for having me and thank you for bringing all of these like wonderful case studies to life in words like I just I love. Brittany, I'm losing my mind.
Brittany Herzberg (36:21.652)
Aw.
Brittany Herzberg (36:27.586)
Girl, I'm on my period over here, like you're fine.
Steph (36:31.519)
I'm sorry.
Brittany Herzberg (36:35.486)
I needed this, this was good.
Steph (36:39.034)
I like, you know, like that moment where you feel like you've been awake all night and like you're right. That's how I feel right now. And it's like, no, it wasn't. I roped in my fabulous co-developer and we were tag teaming our project that we were getting back online. So it was, it's just nice to be able to.
Brittany Herzberg (36:45.887)
Yeah.
Brittany Herzberg (36:49.138)
Were you up all night?
Okay.
Brittany Herzberg (37:00.109)
Mm-hmm.
Steph (37:04.13)
have a rise in tide in that aspect too, because I would have been awake all night long when it feels. Thank you. Do you wanna reset the...
Brittany Herzberg (37:11.351)
Hehehe
Ew.
Brittany Herzberg (37:18.922)
sure there's enough I felt like there was enough in there that she could find a nice stopping point
Steph (37:23.751)
I'm sorry, I go crazy.
Brittany Herzberg (37:26.314)
I know, I feel like we should call it before the technology really does kick us off. Oh my gosh. No, you're good. I'm gonna go ahead and I'll stop the recording because I know I have some-
Steph (37:30.997)
I appreciate it.